EcoRadio

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  • 90 percent want GM labelling

    Michelle Sheather, Greenpeace genetic engineering campaigner said “it is very clear that Australians want to avoid GM food and want it clearly labelled. However, glaring loopholes in our current labelling laws do not leave shoppers with a choice”
    Current laws exempt oils and products from animals fed GM feed from being labelled. GM canola is now being grown in Victoria and New South Wales for the first time in Australia and will slip into the food chain unlabelled through canola oil which is used in a wide range of products and as animal feed.
    Michael Moore, CEO of Public Health Association of Australia said “It is really difficult to understand why there has been resistance to labelling of all genetically modified food.  It is appropriate for individuals to be able to make their own decisions about what they wish to consume. This is why labelling is a key element of any sensible policy on such foods”
    Michelle added “NSW and Victoria are not using adequate procedures to segregate the GE canola from the conventional crop. This leaves food and feed companies as much in the dark as consumers”.
    Don Lazzaro, CEO of Pure Harvest, one of Australia’s largest manufacturers and distributors of natural and organic food said “In response to consumer demand, labelling laws in Europe now require even highly processed GM ingredients like canola oil, and animal feed to be labelled. This shows that better labelling is practical and cost effective and most importantly, it gives consumers the information they need to make an informed choice.”
    Health experts and concerned groups have joined Greenpeace in launching a national petition demanding the comprehensive labelling and stringent safety testing of GM food.
     
    The full Newspoll survey and summary can be found at:
    http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/resources/reports/GE/rpt-gmpoll-190908
    The petition: GM food: Our right to know” can be viewed at: http://www.truefood.org.au/OurRightToKnow/
    So far 20 organisations including the Public Health Association of Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Wilderness Society and the State Conservation Councils have endorsed the petition.

  • Scientists announce super food quest

    From the CSIRO
    A team of Australian scientists has joined forces in a collaboration that will utilise state-of-the-art technology and materials science to determine the molecular structure of the protein components in some of our most common foods.

    This research will help food manufacturers understand the links between the nanostructure of foods containing protein and their associated physical and biochemical properties, thereby enabling them to predict and control the behaviour of raw materials and ingredients during food processing.

    The partnership brings together the food and materials science research capabilities of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), CSIRO’s Food Futures National Research Flagship, and The University of Queensland’s Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences.

    A number of leading food companies including; Fonterra Dairy Co-operative Limited, George Weston Foods, Meat & Livestock Australia, Manildra Group and Dairy Innovation Australia, have also joined as commercial partners.

    Dubbed the ‘Protein Syndicate’, this consortium has commenced research projects that will provide Australian scientists and food manufacturers with the ability to design consumer-friendly foods with improved taste, texture and nutritional qualities.

    Research team leader with the Food Futures Flagship, Dr Ingrid Appelqvist, says the consortium aims to determine the behaviour of a range of food proteins and predict their response to formulation variables likely to be found in food manufacturing processes and products.

    “Over the next two years we’ll be investigating the molecular structure and functionality of a variety of food proteins with sources ranging from grains to dairy, meat and legumes,” she says. “Our ultimate goal is to design new, highly nutritious ingredients that can be dried and rehydrated without reducing their quality and functionality. There are a whole range of potential advantages to come from this research.”

    Food science project leader at ANSTO, Dr Elliot Gilbert, says his team will use neutrons produced by the OPAL reactor to take sophisticated measurements. “While using neutrons to study food may seem unusual, they have the unique ability to identify the location of different atomic or molecular components in food,” he says.

    “This will allow us to unlock the secrets of complex food structures, discover how these are altered by food processing and how modifications affect nutrition and long-term health. The work will be complemented with state-of-the-art X-ray scattering facilities.”

    The Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at The University of Queensland, Professor Mike Gidley, says the Centre will use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and other techniques to identify the molecular basis for the materials and processing properties of proteins in the presence of limited water.

  • Farm power fronts BHP

    High on the list of concerns is the threat of long wall and open cut mining causing catastrophic damage to vital groundwater aquifers.

    Landholders reiterated their long-standing call for an independent study into the impact mining would have on the catchment and wider Murray-Darling Basin.

    Caroona Coal Action Group president, Spring Ridge farmer, Doug Ranken, led the call for an independent inquiry.

    Adding their support were federal Independent Member for New England, Tony Windsor, Greens MLC, Lee Rhiannon, Nationals MLC, Trevor Khan, and Constitutional Property Rights Association member, Bevan O’Regan, of Narrabri.

    Mr Windsor told the rally the mining industry didn’t want an independent study into the impact of mining on groundwater systems because it knew there was no guarantee there would be no long-term damage.

    “If you have a hydrological system and you cut across it, what impact does that have hundreds of kilometres away? We don’t know; there is nowhere in the world where that information is available.”

    Mr Windsor said the ground-swell of support for the landholders’ cause and the large turnout at the rally were a turning point in the debate.

    “I have absolutely no doubt you will win this based on the sustainability issue, the stupidity of trying to mine in these sorts of systems and the impact it will have on the whole Murray-Darling Basin,” he said.

  • Two thirds of farmers already dealing with Climate Chaos

    In contrast, a small number of agricultural businesses reported a decreased frequency or extent of pests, weeds or disease (19.5pc) and an increased level of production (15.2pc).

    Victorians claimed to be the hardest hit by the changing climate, with 90.3pc reporting a decrease in production, compared to 66.4pc in the Northern Territory.

    Queensland and New South Wales reported the largest increase in frequency or extent of pests, weeds or disease (58.5pc and 58.0pc respectively) on their holding as a result of a perceived change to climate, while the Northern Territory reported the lowest (45.8pc).

    Agricultural businesses in South Australia reported the largest decrease in the frequency or extent of pests, weeds or disease (22.9pc) on their holding as a result of a perceived change to climate, while Tasmania reported the lowest (10.4pc).

    In Western Australia, 20.4pc of agricultural businesses reported an increase in the level of production on their holding as a result of a perceived change to climate, compared to just 13.5pc of agricultural businesses in South Australia.

    The most commonly reported changed management practice was changed intensity of cropping (69.3pc), followed by changed watering/irrigation practices (32.7pc) and changed rotation or fallow practices (31.9pc).

  • Natives trees to thrive under climate change

    BEN CUBBY in The Land
     
    As the world warms, Australian trees will grow faster and larger and become more water-efficient, research suggests.

    Giant, climate-controlled tents that simulate the carbon dioxide-heavy conditions expected in the second half of the 21st century have been erected over gum trees by University of Western Sydney researchers.

    Air inside the tents is carefully regulated to raise the carbon dioxide content to over 600 parts per million – above the predicted “tipping point” for highly damaging climate change.

    The results suggest the hardy eucalypts will survive and maybe even prosper, even as surrounding ecosystems collapse.

    “The trees are basically taking up more carbon and using up to 25pc less water,” said Professor David Tissue, a lead researcher.

    “Hopefully this could have important implications for the use of plantation timber, and the way carbon sequestration is accounted.”

    Professor Tissue and his colleagues decided to use Sydney blue gum saplings for the trial near Richmond because the trees are commonly used in plantation forests and as carbon offsets.

    Some blue gums are being raised in carbon-rich atmospheres beneath their transparent plastic tents, while others are being starved of water to simulate drought conditions.

    Those given extra carbon have been shown to create more wood and lose less water by closing pores on their leaves.

    But Australian native trees are not the solution to climate change, said Dr Bert Drake of the Smithsonian Institute, who has maintained the world’s longest-running carbon sequestration experiment in the US since 1987.

    “The largest factor determining the uptake of carbon dioxide is still the availability of water, and that is a major issue from Australia,” said Dr Drake, who is in Sydney to discuss carbon sinks at a Whitlam Institute forum tonight.

    “None of the data suggests that plants can absorb enough of the carbon dioxide to compensate for the amount we are putting into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.”

    If the amount of carbon dioxide being put in the atmosphere by human activity does not decline sharply over the next four decades, by the second half of the century the global average is expected to reach the levels being simulated in the UWS experiment.

    A senior CSIRO plant industry scientist, Dr Roger Gifford, said some regions would receive higher rainfall as others dried out.

    But any advantages for plants were likely to be short-term.

  • China leapfrogs US to Iraqi oil

    Beijing’s success in the latest battleground represents a double blow for Washington whose troops are still fighting daily for Iraq’s security. With the return of stability, Baghdad hopes that its output can triple to six million barrels per day.

    The latest Chinese outpost on the ground is a mountain camp pitched 1,400 metres above sea-level by CNPC, which has signed a contract to conduct the exploration of a 44 x 12 mile tract. The sensitivity of the Chinese presence is betrayed by the camp’s heavy fortifications. It is overlooked by watchtowers and surrounded by a square earth berm. Scientists in the 100-strong team only leave to conduct surveys in heavily-armed convoys. Fierce-looking members of the Surchi, a notorious local tribe, stand guard at the gate.

    The chief CNPC geologist at the site, Chao Shu-he exudes a missionary zeal. “The Chinese have opened the door to co-operation,” said Mr Chao. “China is more and more developed and it’s our patriotic duty to contribute to development, even if we are far from home.”

    Oil executives complain that China is the only big country prepared to work in Iraq. DNO, a Norwegian firm that produces 10,000 barrels a day in Kurdistan, said it solicited “dozens” of well-known firms before signing a drilling contract with another Chinese firm, Great Wall Drilling.

    “The Chinese are strong in service contracts but not in exploration rights,” said Asti Hawrami, the Kurdish oil minister. “They are not taking on the risks but they are playing a strong, important role in the industry.”

    “China wants security of oil supply but they also want a finger in every pie,” said Paul Stevens, an expert at Chatham House. “The Chinese now sit like death’s head at the feast, waiting for the slightest chance to get into Iraq.”

    Clifford Chance, the international law firm, reported last month that up to 30 billion barrels of oil lies beneath the Kurdish territories, where fire worship around the pools of crude at the surface has a long tradition.

    Such estimates have drawn a rush of wildcat firms but, because of a political dispute between the regional government and Baghdad, big American and British oil firms are notably absent.

    Western majors have been warned off by threats from Hussein al-Shahristani, the Baghdad oil minister, to blackball firms seeking production in the north. However that injunction does not appear to have applied to CNPC.

    As the American military presence in Iraq shrinks, the al-Ahdab deal is one of a host of signs that Beijing is well-placed to rival US ties to post-war Iraq.

    An affinity with Chairman Mao Zedong, a leader who killed 10 times as many as the vilified Saddam, drew President Jalal Talabani to China last year. But when President Talabani paid $100 million for Chinese-made Kalashnikov rifles, America was so displeased it sent all Iraqi security forces on a training programme to use US M4 rifles.